Utility meters, such as water meters, are often located in below-ground pits. This kind of meter-pit installation is commonly used in geographic regions that are not typically subjected to freezing conditions and in which many homes do not have full-slab foundations. In such homes, there is no basement or access space for mounting a water meter indoors.
Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) systems are generally known. Such systems are adapted to allow the communication of meter consumption data without a utility company operator physically visiting the meter to acquire consumption data. Often, one or more AMR devices are communicatively coupled to a utility endpoint. One such device is an AMR endpoint that is an electronic components adapted to communicate meter consumption data and other data.
A meter located at the bottom of a pit may be communicatively coupled to an AMR endpoint that converts consumption data collected by the meter to a signal. In one example, the AMR endpoint is adapted to independently communicate the signal in the form of a radio frequency (RF) transmission to a device that collects and record consumption data.
Meter pit environments may vary significantly. Therefore, mounting an AMR device in meter pits presents a variety of challenges. For example, meter pits may be constructed of metal, concrete, or plastic. For metal pits, AMR devices should not touch the walls of the pit, because metal walls may interfere with the communications. Therefore, for metal pits, an AMR device should be secured without touching the walls of the pit. This may be accomplished by mounting an AMR device to a vertically extending PVC pipe or a stake, such that the AMR device is both elevated and out of contact with the pit walls. For concrete or plastic pits, an AMR device may be attached directly to the pit wall. For some pits, it is advantageous to mount an AMR device to a lid of the pit.
Known AMR devices generally include a single mounting accessory that must be adapted by the end user to particular pit designs. One known mounting device used in meter pits is disclosed in Master Meter, Inc.'s “Dialog 3G” product line. The Dialog 3G Universal External Transmitter, for example, is detachably coupled to a mounting plate. The mounting plate may be installed by attaching it to a PVC pipe or a plastic stake with plastic tie wrap. Alternatively, the mounting plate may be attached to the meter by using screws to attach an L-shaped plastic mount to the meter; the L-shaped mount provides a vertical engagement surface for the mounting plate. An end user may use tie wrap to hang the mounting plate from a hole in the pit lid. The mounting plate may also be secured directly to the pit wall. It is up to the installer to adapt the mounting plate to a variety of pit configurations and environments in which the mounting plate may be used.
A pole or post mounting device is disclosed by Maddox in U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,645. This mounting device attaches to a steel conduit, which like a stake, may be inserted into a pit bottom and used to elevate an AMR device.
A pit lid may be large and/or heavy. For example, typical pit lids are made of cast iron. Such lids may range from one to three feet in diameter, and may range from 22-90 lbs in weight. AMR devices are often coupled to a meter or other AMR system component through one or more cables. Mounting or un-mounting an AMR device to a heavy and cumbersome meter lid may result in excessive strain or even damage to cables, connections, or the AMR device itself.
A lid mounting device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,475. The mounting device includes an annular housing mounted within an outer shroud. The shroud sized to fit in the lid of a meter pit.
In order to mount AMR devices in a variety of meter pit environments, known devices are adapted for a single kind of application or they rely on the installer to customize the mounting to fit a variety of possible meter-pit configurations. Therefore a need exists to provide an improved AMR device for mounting in a meter pit environment. Furthermore, a need exists to provide an improved AMR device for mounting on a meter pit lid.